Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Local

Find conversations happening in your area in our local chat rooms.

Original poster

Moving to Cambridge (A good idea?)

98 replies

bellamysbride · 16/08/2010 10:58

Sorry I know 'moving to cambridge threads' have been done to death but I need some honest opinions.

We are trying to decide whether to move to Cambridge or stay in SW london. Our place is sold (due to complete in Sept). My DP will be commuting to London. We have family in east anglia and are keen to be close to countryside. We have a pretty good amount to spend and would like to be in a central location with four beds.

Will the commute be a killer? Is Cambridge a good place to live with a young family? Where should we be looking? Sorry questions, questions, questions!!

OP posts:
cazzybabs · 16/08/2010 11:03

cambridge is fab...nice parks, good schools, nice to cycle places. Best to live in Cambridge itself as driving iS A BIT OF A nightmare.

Disadvantages - its expensive, flat and parking and driving are a nightmare

Lilymaid · 16/08/2010 11:41

I commute to London (usually from station just outside Cambridge). Cambridge to Kings X service is generally very good especially the non stop service. If your DP works in the City, the Liverpool St service might be better though the trains are slower and the rolling stock is older (new carriages are supposed to be coming soon).

overmydeadbody · 16/08/2010 11:48

Cambridge is a great place to live, the commute to London is easy if you are close to the station already.

The countryside is uninspiring though, being flat fenland farmland, and you need a lot of money.

A 4 bed house in the city centre will cost around £500 thousand but if you have that kind of money then go for it.

It is very small. Schools are great. Parks are great. The 'rough' areas are very tame really.

coolma · 16/08/2010 12:02

Would agree with cazzy. V expensive (went to The PLough at Coton for a quiet drink the other night, and one pint of lager and an alcohol free botle of Becks was SEVEN POUNDS FIFTEEN PEE) However, it is a very beautiful city and reasonably safe - schools on the whole good, but, as anywhere, the good ones are oversubscribed - don't ask!! Property is expensive, it is apprently one of the few places in the country where is supposedly cheaper to buy than rent!

I have three children spanning 20 years Confused and i would say that there are facilities and options for all of them!

Original poster
bellamysbride · 16/08/2010 12:43

Thank you. Yes we knew it was pretty expensive, but we are lucky enough for that not to be too much of an issue and we would be looking to settle there. Are there playgroups etc in the city centre?

DP would be doing cambridge to kings X. I don't want to be a moo by encouraging him to move there if it is really going to damage his quality of life.

OP posts:
mell242 · 16/08/2010 14:20

I did the commute for just over a year before giving up and finding a job in Cambridge. It's not for everyone. I regularly couldn't get a seat and the scrum at Kings X in the evenings was just unbearable.

On the other hand Cambridge itself is a wonderful place to live. I have a toddler and find there are lots to do with him, groups, parks, and great shops/libraries.

hildathebuilder · 16/08/2010 14:33

a 4 bed in the city cente for 500,000... i dreamt of places like that. if you want the centre, or near the station try £600,000 + oh and 4 bedroom houses are very sought after as there is a lot less stock than in London. if you are happy to live further out. When we made our last move (to the forever 4 bedroomed house) we were down to 4 streets to be near enough to the station....and our budget was eye watering. We got the house we wanted by making an asking price offer just before te housing market crashed in 2008. best move I ever made, there is no way we'd get the house now.
But the house is lovely (if very expensive).

As regards the commute its fine. the train service is much much better in the evenings than it was a couple of years ago, you can get seats now the trains don't stop at the smaller places on the line.

My Ds is tiny (nearly 6 months) but its a great place to have a family.

Yes its flat - but if you likecycling to avoid the traffic that's ok. Parking is awful, traffic is awful. Traffic wardens are very prevalent!

Original poster
bellamysbride · 16/08/2010 20:17

So if my DP was getting a 5:45/6:15am train into work and a 6:30 ish train home, would he be likely to get a seat?

Sorry to be brash but would £750, 000 get us a nice 4 bed house with good garden in a nice area?

Thanks for all your answers.

OP posts:
ByThePowerOfGreyskull · 16/08/2010 20:31

have a look at rightmove, there are some good properties but I would check about areas with ladies on here because the lovely places can be back to back with the less desirable, iykwim.

Heartsease · 16/08/2010 20:34

Before you do your Rightmove exploration, note the location of Cambridge station which is not at all central, as you'll need to factor in your DH's walking/cycling time.

Lilymaid · 16/08/2010 21:02

"So if my DP was getting a 5:45/6:15am train into work and a 6:30 ish train home, would he be likely to get a seat?"

The trains have been less crowded in the last year or so (recession) so he should get a seat in morning without difficulty and also in the evening providing he gets to Kings X in good time. (In past if you got to Kings X 3 minutes before 18.15 left you wouldn't have had a chance of getting a seat, but this isn't necessarily the case now).

Original poster
bellamysbride · 16/08/2010 22:10

Thanks so much all of you. We are going to come and visit on friday and DP is going to do a practice run on the commuter.

OP posts:
LeninGrad · 16/08/2010 22:13

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

LeninGrad · 16/08/2010 22:14

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

coolma · 17/08/2010 07:49

I think I'll have the Emmanuel street one ta Grin

Heartsease · 17/08/2010 08:52

I'm another De Freville Avenue fantasist Grin. If the elegance of your street all becomes too much you can hope over the bridge to see the lovely cattle.

Heartsease · 17/08/2010 08:53

hope hop Hmm

Original poster
bellamysbride · 17/08/2010 09:31

De Freville's got a house being built in the next door neighbours garden Sad, I guess that's why it isn't on the market for zillions. Going to take a look anyway! If you see a woman dragging a reluctant boyfriend and child around Cambridge, give a cheery smile and wave and do a Cambridge hard sell Grin

OP posts:
coolma · 17/08/2010 11:00

I work just round the corner from de frev. It is rather pleasant!

Crapweasel · 17/08/2010 11:13

I love De Freville and am Envy of people who can afford to live there. But would you really recommend for someone doing the daily commute? I'd have thought that you need to be the other side of Elizabeth Way at least to make the route to the station reasonable without having to drive and then pay for parking?

Mawson Rd etc v ££ - but for that very reason?

ShadeofViolet · 17/08/2010 11:21

We lived on Mill Road and DH commuted to London - walking to the station isnt too far from there.

Everything is within walking distance and there is lots to do. I wish we could have afforded to buy a property but it was just beyond us so we had to move.

I love the new bits they have added to the city centre which have really bought the whole thing up to date.

My parents live in a small village on the outskirts and its lovely there.

kingfix · 17/08/2010 11:23

total heaven to live in Mawson road, I think.

But watch out for the commute. I did it for a few years (Again from a station just outside cambridge) and it wore me out: I had no free time at all in the week.

The killer was that I had another 30 mins travel through London once I got to KX though, so if your oh can walk to work from KX it might be ok. Once we had children I decided that if I ever wanted to see them when we were all awake, I'd have to find a job in Cambridge.

ProfessorLaytonIsMyLoveSlave · 17/08/2010 11:23

If you do find the commute too much, I had friends who lived in Letchworth on the basis that it was out the same way and within easy reach of Cambridge but an easier commute into London. They waxed lyrical about it.

SIL lives in Cambridge and if they stay put (they may or may not relocate in another couple of years) we may move there (or near there) ourselves (also currently in SW London).

Heartsease · 17/08/2010 11:24

Was thinking similar, Crapweasel I love De Frev but should have said that I might be wary of commuting from there. There's a cycle route over the footbridge to Midsummer Common which makes the route to the station much shorter than if you were driving if your DH is happy on a bike it will save loads of time and open up more routes between parts of town which take ages to drive between. I would not recommend even considering a plan which involves regularly driving through the centre of town. Buses are pretty crap in my experience and some routes oddly unreliable.